Bangs head on wall
 

Needed the pin number for my UK Amex card for a trip to the UK, and somehow had deleted the note from my phone. Call Amex in Brighton and they offer to send a pin reminder. As I need it early next week they send it to my sons address in the UK as it might not reach me in the US before I leave.

Son just called to say it had arrived, air mail from Florida.

Re: Bangs head on wall
 

:rofl::rofl::rofl:

:hysterical: Here, you deserve a few :beer::drinkwine::drinkwine::beer:

Thumbs up to the speed of air mail via USPS

Re: Bangs head on wall
 

Ha, ditto. If you need to check your PIN you can logon to your online account and it will tell you.

Re: Bangs head on wall
 

I did try that but kept getting an error. Amex concluded it was because I was logged into a UK account from the US.

Re: Bangs head on wall
 

Are these people generally good? I'm using them for the first time for some clothing coming from the US, and it's been a bit of a shambles so far.

The store messed up on the delivery instructions to the shipping warehouse, the shipping warehouse messed up on several counts, but the package is now allegedly en route via USPS.

I'm just wondering what may go wrong next... :unsure:

Re: Bangs head on wall
 

Travelling back to the UK can be a sod when banks are concerned. I now make sure I notify all banks and credit card companies well before going. A couple of years back we rented a car from Avis at Heathrow but booked it over here, we spent 2 weeks enjoying ourselves and on return to the airport we had breakfast in Tesco Hounslow, I used my bank debit card to pay and all was as good as the previous 2 weeks, however as we left Tesco I drove to their petrol station to top the tank up and return the car, I put 40 quid in and went inside to pay only to have the same card declined !!!!!.
Luckily my wife and I have joint accounts and her card was accepted, I called my bank from London to ask why and it seems that at the very second I was pumping petrol Avis submitted the charge for the car, at Avis in Georgia, this triggered an alarm with the bank, how could I be in London and Georgia at the same time. All was sorted but it tool a week to get my card reactivated, just imagine what would have happened if I had been alone ?
Nothing to do with your problem I know but all international travel needs checking before flying.

Re: Bangs head on wall
 

This is very good advice, I wonder how many people have been caught in a similar fashion. I certainly have, it seems to kick in especially if one switches continents.

We were in Japan a few years back, bouncing around for 3 weeks, all hotels pre-booked, but not pre-paid. First hotel was fine, second hotel my card was refused. Luckily OH's card got us out, and after some panic calls back home, my card was unblocked after only three days.

Re: Bangs head on wall
 

Some uk banks no longer want you to tell them when you are abroad, halifax and lloyds for example. First direct just dont care, its all done on the phone anyway, and they are happy to send you a card abroad so long as its couriered to their satisfaction [24 hour to the us, about 25 pounds] , or to get you an hsbc card if thats easier.

Re: Bangs head on wall
 

Why are you asking for United States Postal Service if you are using a "store" to ship your items?

Did you a place like the UPS store to box your items rather than diy? So then the UPS store made a mistake on the shipping instructions not the USPS and the USPS doesn't have a shipping warehouse but UPS does.

UPS is United Parcel Service USPS is United States Postal Service. One is a private entity and the other is a government agency.

And yes, I have only ever used USPS to send packages to Germany and Canada and across the US and thankfully have never had a problem with shipments or deliveries.

Re: Bangs head on wall
 

I notify the bank and credit companies whenever I am traveling outside of my state of residency and been doing so for over 20 years. If I drove from NY to MA, I called and let them know. The same if I flew from NY to Amsterdam, Paris or Belgium or Germany.

Re: Bangs head on wall
 

The store in question wouldn't ship internationally, so I had to use a 'shipping forwarding' company.

I appreciate the difference between UPS and USPS, but this time around it seems that they're hand in glove, and I'm getting confused.

The package(s) left the shipping company's warehouse in Oregon with UPS, and are now seen on the UPS tracker site to have been delivered to USPS in Los Angeles.

If I try and track the package(s) on USPS I get 'unknown package number'.

Just trying to understand how this stuff works...

Re: Bangs head on wall
 

UPS/Fedex etc sometimes use USPS for final delivery to local mailboxes. Are you now expecting the package to be on a plane to Switzerland?

I've had stuff with a USPS tracking number which has never been updated on their site, or is MIA for a day or two and suddenly shows up.

Re: Bangs head on wall
 

The original tracking number that I was given by my US shipping company was for UPS, not USPS. I saw the UPS track go through as far as delivery to a USPS facility in California, but I have no idea where it goes now that USPS have the package, as I can no longer see it.

Is it possible that USPS will hand off again to UPS for the international leg? UPS does have an on the ground presence here, I see them all the time.

If USPS do hand off to UPS in California, then I would hope that the original tracking number will 'come alive' again, so maybe I'm just in a temporary MIA zone...

As I said, I'm just trying to understand how this all works.

Re: Bangs head on wall
 

USPS do the "last mile" for most deliveries it seems.

Re: Bangs head on wall
 

I hear you, but USPS does not have feet on the ground here, so at some point the package will have to be handed off to our "last mile" people, which will be any one of Swiss Post, UPS, Fedex or DPD.

My bet is on UPS...